to a sense of Religion. He produced, indeed, a sen◄ sible reformation in the manners of his people, thirty or forty of whom, usually, attended prayers on a week day; which, if one may judge by his own experience, seems almost incredible.

In 1736, he published a pamphlet, the title of which is, A Vindication of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Winchester, &c. A book, entitled, A plain Account of the Nature and End of the Lord's Supper, was ascribed to his Lordship, in which he asserts, that consecration of the elements is without scriptural precept or example, and that this Sacrament is intended, merely, to commemorate our Lord's death, Skelton answers all the arguments produced by the author, in such a way as to satisfy any reasonable reader.

In 1742, he accepted of the tuition of the late Earl of Charlemont, but quarrelling with Mr. Adderley, who had married Lady Charlemont, he soon gave up the care of his Lordship's education, and returned to his cure. His Rector had now been resident two years.

After having prepared his Deism Revealed for the press, he resolved to take it to London. Accordingly, his Rector, having offered to do duty for him in his absence, and pay him his salary, he set out in 1748, to dispose of it. By Deism Revealed, he made about £200. His powerful pulpit-eloquence which he displayed in the Churches in the metropolis, brought him into notice,

He spent a great part of his time in going through the city, where he continued about half a year, pure chasing books at a cheap rate, and laid out on these the most of the money he got by Deism Revealed, which afforded a good library for a writer.

However, the time of his being promoted above the humble office of a curate at length arrived. In the year 1750, the Bishop of Clogher gave him the living of Pettigo, in a wild part of the county of Donnegal. When he got this living, he had been eighteen years Curate of Monaghan, and two of New

town

town-Butler. His parish was fifteen miles long, and ten broad; he had the whole of the tithes, and also a glebe of a hundred and fifty acres: yet ftrange aś it may seem, the whole did not, on an average, produce more than £ 200 per annum.

His parishoners were sunk in profound ignorance. He had a wide field for improvement before him, and began to work immediately. He visited them from house to house; he instructed them late and early; he told them of Jesus Christ, who died for their sins, whose name some of them had, scarcely, heard of before. In his journies through the parish, he took down the childrens' names, desiring their parents to send them to Church to be instructed in the Catechism, During the summer, while he was thus employed, he explained the Catechism on Sundays before all the people, which served to edify both old and young. He gave the people this instead of a sermon, as it seemed to please them better, being delivered without notes, and was also, remarkably, plain and instructive. He was thus, like Job, "eyes to the blind, and feet "to the lame." In time, by his extraordinary care, he brought these uncultivated people to believe in a God who made, and a Saviour who redeemed them.

Soon after he got this living, the Bishop of Clogher informed him, that he expected him to preach the next Visitation Sermon. On that occasion, he preached his sermon entitled, The Dignity of the Christian Ministry, at the visitation in 1751. This, probably, is one of the best occasional sermons of this sort extant in our language. Its style is clear, forcible, and animated with true piety.

The private ftills in the parish of Pettigo, being at that time innumerable, made whiskey cheap, which caused the people to be most shamefully addicted to drunkenness. The catholics, who were most numerous, were the most notoriously infamous for this vice; though the protestants, as they called themselves, were but little better. At burials, in particular, to which they flocked from all quarters, they drank to abominable excess. It was the custom then with them,

as

as soon as the corpse was buried, to meet all in a field adjacent to the church-yard; when twenty gallons of whiskey have, often, been drunk at such a meeting.

Mr. Skelton strove with all his power to suppress this brutish practice. A sermon he preached to them on this subject is printed in his works, entitled, "Woe to the Drunkard," which, had they the feelings of men, must have had an effect on them, especially when delivered by such a preacher. Yet his advice and preaching produced, alas! in this instance, but little reformation.

In 1754 his two volumes of sermons were pub. lished by Andrew Millar, entitled, Discourses Controversial and Practical on various Subjects, proper for the Consideration of the present Times. By the Author of Deism Revealed. Of these sermons innumerable passages might be quoted, at once striking and sublime. They are all animated with a warm and genuine piety, and an ardent desire for the salvation of men's souls.

A farmer, of the name of Carshore, with whom he lodged, had a son who was blind. Mr. Skelton perceiving him to be a young man of extraordinary understanding, and surprizingly acquainted with the Scripture, employed him to go through the parish during the winter, to instruct his people in Religion, and in the summer examined them himself, to know what benefit they had derived from his instruction. The methodists strove to bring him over to their opinions; for they always wish to deal with persons that have some natural defect, that the interposition of the Spirit may be more apparent. apparent. But he had too much good sense to become a convert to their ridiculous opinions.

In 1757 a great dearth prevailed in Ireland; the effects of which were most severely felt in the rough and barren lands of Pettigo. Mr. Skelton went out then into the country to discover the real state of his poor, and travelled from cottage to cottage, over nountains, rocks, and heath. He was a witness to many scenes of sorrow to which the gay world were

insensible.

insensible. He set off, immediately, for Ballyshannon to buy oatmeal for them, and brought thence with all speed as much as appeased the hunger of those who were in the severest distress. He also gave money to a person to go through the parish to distribute it among the most needy objects.

When he had thus afforded them present relief, he went to Ballyhayes, in the county of Cavan, and brought thence oatmeal, which he could buy at a cheaper rate. He then set out through the country to see what subsistence the indigent people had in their wretched hovels, and used to count their number of children, that he might be a better judge of their necessities, To some he gave one peck, to others more, according to their wants, and to those who could afford to pay a little, he allowed meal at about half value. He thus, like his great Master, "went

"about doing good."

He and his servant, a man of prodigious strength, regulated Pettigo market on a Monday, standing among the meal-sacks, each of them with a huge club in his hand, and covered over with meal. They were obliged, when the carriers were bringing the meal to Pettigo, to guard it with their clubs, as the people of the adjacent parishes strove to take it by force, and eat it themselves; in which, as hunger makes people desperate, they sometimes succeeded.

At last his money was nearly all spent, and yet he knew the dearth must continue many weeks more, until the new crop would relieve the poor. He was then very apprehensive, lest after keeping them alive so long, he should see them at last dying of hunger. He resolved, therefore, to sell his books, the companions of his solitude, and relieve his indigent parishoners with the money. With this intent he sent them to Dublin, to William Watson, a bookseller, in Capel-street, de siring him to dispose of them immediately: who, in compliance with his orders, advertised them for sale in the newspapers. But as buyers were tardy, and the wants of the poor very urgent, Mr. Watson bought them himself for eighty pounds, and instantly paid

the

the money. Soon after the advertisement appeared in the newspapers, two ladies, who guessed at his reason for selling his books, sent him a bill of fifty pounds, requesting him to keep his books, and relieve his poor with the money. These ladies did not discover their names; but one of them was Lady Barrymore, who gave twenty, and the other Miss Leflie, who gave thirty pounds. However, with expressions of grati tude, he told them, he had dedicated his books to God, and he must sell them. Consequently, the contribution of the ladies, and the money he got for his books, were both applied to the relief of the poor. This was a sacrifice to duty, of which no one can have an adequate idea, except a scholar, fond of reading, situated like Mr. Skelton, in a coarse, barren country, among illiterate people, with a number of agreeable books, the only companions of his many solitary hours.

It is necessary to mention, that Mr. Watson sold a part of the books; those that remained, Mr. Skelton, when he could afford it, took from him at the price he sold them for, but insisted on paying interest for the sum they amounted to for the time Mr. Watson had them in his possession.

In 1759, the Bishop of Clogher without any soli citation, removed him from Pettigo to Devenish, a living in the county of Fermanagh, near Enniskillen, worth about £300 per annum.

The whole living was then divided into two parts, placed at some miles distant from each other. In one was the parish Church, and in the other a chapel of ease. He, usually, preached in the chapel of ease, as it was only two miles distant from Enniskillen, and kept a Curate in the parish Church. However, he frequently exchanged with his Curate, extending his care over the people in every part of his parish. In both Churches there was a large congregation, the Church of England-men exceeding the Presbyterians in the proportion of at least three to one, In these Churches, Mr. Skelton had the Sacrament administered once a month; a regulation he thought